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Amid the continuing corruption probe into FIFA and the prolonged crisis over the succession to Sepp Blatter, football’s global ruling body has a new leader.

New FIFA president Gianni Infantino lives a mere six miles away from his predecessor in Switzerland and was an internal candidate having worked for the organization’s UEFA confederation for 16 years, including eight years as general secretary.

The hard work starts now: Newly elected FIFA president Gianni Infantino thanks delegates after the second round of voting during the extraordinary FIFA congress in Zurich, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

However, he has vowed to “restore the respect people have in FIFA” and oversee a new era at the organization dubbed the United Nations of Football.

He will be assisted by FIFA’s approval of “landmark reforms” including the separation of commercial and political decision-making, greater scrutiny of senior officials and commitments to promoting human rights and the role of women in world football.

The new measures also include limits on the terms of office of key FIFA executives and annual disclosure of the compensation of the president, all FIFA council members, and the secretary-general.

They also involve the adoption of statutory principles of good governance for member associations and confederations, including compulsory annual independent audit reports and independent judicial bodies to ensure that there is a separation of powers on all levels of football’s structures.

However, the fact that the reforms were supported by only 179 of the 207 member associations who were present and eligible to vote at the extraordinary congress in Zurich illustrates that world football is not wholly united on how far reforms should go.

Reformers also want to go much further. Here are five suggestions for actions to clean up world football.

1. Move to full democratic elections of the FIFA council

While FIFA’s president is elected by congress, such as the one that has just taken place in Zurich, all other members of the new FIFA council will continue to be appointed by the six confederations. As other commentators have noted, this runs the risk that FIFA reforms may simply decentralise corruption from FIFA to the confederations.